Legendary Grand Mage?
William was momentarily stunned by Odin's words.
He had never really understood how his magic level should be classified, and hearing such a grand title from Odin made him happy—but also unsure whether Odin was being sincere or just flattering him.
But now wasn't the time to get lost in thought. William smiled politely and greeted Frigga, "Good afternoon, respected Mother of Asgard, Lady Frigga."
Such a simple and direct greeting surprised Frigga, who was used to formal etiquette and hearing a long string of noble titles.
She gave Odin a subtle side-eye, to which Odin chuckled and said, "Don't mind it, my dear. William may be a noble, but he's an odd one—even when meeting the King of England, he simplifies all formalities as much as possible."
Frigga smiled at last and nodded to William. "I'm pleased to meet you as well, child of House Devonshire."
Well then—William called her "Lady," and she responded by calling him a "child." Clearly, the queen only showed warmth to her own son Thor, and extended that affection to Thor's Earth-bound girlfriend. As for William? Not so much.
Seeing that his wife wasn't warming up to William, Odin cheerfully broke the tension, "Alright, now that you two have met, save the formalities for when William visits Asgard in the future. Since we're finally on Earth, and time is limited, let's check out the RV before I take my goddess on vacation."
William figured Frigga's distant attitude probably stemmed from the fact that both Thor and Loki had suffered losses at his hands more than once. So, she wasn't exactly fond of him.
And William had no intention of forcing friendliness where it wasn't welcome.
After all, his relationship with Asgard was built on mutual use. As long as they kept up appearances, that was enough.
Walking out of the castle with Odin and Frigga, William asked casually, "Based on Asgard's classification for mages, am I really at the level of a Legendary Grand Mage?"
"Of course," Odin replied, clearly surprised William didn't know. He straightened up and explained seriously, "Given that you can continuously supply over a dozen forest spirits with their growth magic, your magical strength has definitely reached the legendary level. However..."
He gave William a knowing grin. "You've obviously been holding back, haven't you?"
Before William could lie, Odin continued, "And as the wielder of the Infinity Stones, combined with that battle armor of yours, your strength can't be measured by magical rankings alone. Otherwise, neither Thor nor Loki would've been suppressed by you so easily."
William didn't confirm it aloud, but it was true. And thinking about it more, he realized he really didn't need to care about how others defined his magical rank.
He could already overpower Thor—by the standards of the cinematic universe, there weren't many in the Nine Realms who could beat him.
Feeling better after that thought, William led Odin and Frigga to the sleek white RV, his mood significantly lighter.
Odin hopped into the driver's seat and listened as William gave the rundown.
"This RV has a full autopilot system, so you can let the onboard AI drive if you get tired. All appliances are voice-controlled. The living area is 21 square meters, but with the expansion module activated, it doubles to 41 square meters.
The trunk's been modified into a mini garage with a two-door convertible inside, and there's a motorcycle mounted in the rear storage compartment.
If you don't mind a sea cruising speed of 10 knots, the RV can even drive into the water. You can go up to the observation deck on the roof and fish if you'd like."
William ended proudly, "Aside from flying, it can meet all your road trip needs."
After touring the vehicle's interior, Odin was clearly impressed by the futuristic design and high-tech features. Grinning from ear to ear, he said, "Sounds great. I can't wait to take this thing out for a spin."
William rolled his eyes. That was a polite way of saying "Time for you to go."
"Fine. As long as you like it, then I wish you both a pleasant trip."
Watching the RV slowly pull away from Folger Castle, William muttered with some annoyance, "He really just left me here like that? Doesn't he worry I'll loot all the antiques?"
"Well… if you'd like, I can take you to the collection room in the castle," the Transformers elder replied. "The master has stored quite a few treasures there."
Hearing that, William really didn't have the face to pick one or two items.
His usual style was all or nothing. And with over 100,000 items already in his personal collection, one or two rare antiques meant nothing to him.
Time passed quickly. By 10 PM, after a brief teleportation back to Oxford Castle, William returned to Folger Castle, bringing with him the Aston Martin Vulcan, Valkyrie, and One-77.
"SIR, unidentified extraterrestrial objects detected, currently falling toward England," Sunday alerted.
Looking up, William spotted four fireballs streaking down from the sky.
"BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM"—four explosions thundered across the grassy field outside the castle.
Then a beat-up Camaro entered William's mental scan range.
No need to guess—that had to be Bumblebee. Judging by his worn-out chassis and outdated model, it was clear the guy hadn't had an easy life on Earth.
THUMP THUMP THUMP—the sound of heavy footsteps approached. William and the Transformers elder flew up a dozen meters into the air and saw four sleek, metallic robots of varying sizes gathered around Bumblebee, speaking to him.
When Bumblebee turned and pointed toward the castle, and then spotted William and the elder hovering in the sky, the largest of the group—Optimus Prime—began walking over.
As he passed by the line of vehicles William had deliberately parked outside the castle, Prime's gaze swept over the red Peterbilt semi.
Clank clank clank—mechanical parts shifted and twisted as he transformed into a red-and-blue truck.
Among the other three Autobots, only Jazz scanned the Aston Martin Vulcan and transformed into a sleek silver supercar.
Ironhide and Ratchet glanced at the Valkyrie and One-77 and just shook their heads.
"Those are more Arcee's type," one of them said.
William could only shrug. He couldn't exactly force Ironhide and Ratchet to accept cars they didn't like.
As the Transformers elder briefed Optimus on Earth's current situation, far off on Neptune, The Fallen awoke the moment Prime landed on Earth.
"Finally, a leader-class Autobot has arrived. The Matrix of Leadership must now reveal itself. Megatron—come to me!"
But after waiting for ages, The Fallen received no response.
He activated his own ship and personally set out for Earth.
Attempts to contact Megatron—no answer. Attempts to reach Starscream—nothing either.
Thankfully, when he called Soundwave, the Decepticon responded quickly.
But the message he brought made The Fallen furious.
"Who? WHO killed my disciple?!"
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